For a quarter and a half Saturday afternoon, Ellensburg's girls turned themselves into some freak form of anti-matter.

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They weren't hitting shots, they weren't clamping down on defense and -- most baffling of all in this weird world of opposite identities -- they were simply getting outworked.

It was a nasty start to the trophy game for fourth and seventh places in the Class 2A state tournament, and one Pullman took full advantage of while racing out to a 25-8 lead.

"I saw that score -- 25-8 -- and it was like, girls, we have got to get our stuff together," said senior Kim Kelly. "We can play so much better than this and everybody knew it."

So everybody did it.

Kelly hit a 3-pointer. Deaira Gordon hit another. Shannon Bland dove for a steal, and her sister Andrea attacked the lane for a basket. And before the first half was over, the Bulldog express was back on the tracks.

With Kelly's 16 points leading a balanced comeback, Ellensburg caught Pullman late in the third period and pushed on for a 62-58 victory that was sealed with Andrea Bland's two free throws with 16 seconds left.

"That was a little scary," said Gordon, a four-year starter and one of six seniors on the team. "But we knew if we stuck together we'd be all right, and everybody started making plays. By halftime we had it under 10 and we had the momentum back."

Gordon's 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter put Ellensburg up 44-42, and the Bulldogs made a big 9-0 charge for a 57-48 lead with four minutes left. That run would have settled it if not for the constant threat of Pullman's towering Shelby Cheslek.

The 6-foot-5 junior made 9 of 17 shots, scored 26 points and had eight rebounds and three blocks. She scored nine of those points in the final period and helped give the Greyhounds a chance.

When Katie Guettinger canned a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to trim the margin to 60-58 and Danielle Hodge stole the inbound pass under the basket, a chance grew into a real shot.

But Hodge missed her attempt at tying the game, then fouled Bailey Carlson -- another hustling senior -- on the rebound.

"This was just huge for the seniors. What more can you ask than an effort like that?" said Ellensburg coach Craig Faire, whose team secured the program's third top-four trophy since 2006. "We got down big to a good team but turned it around -- what a credit to these kids. To win on the last day was perfect for these kids, especially the seniors."

Kelly, who finished 7-for-10 from the field, was the first to answer Pullman's 25-8 lead with the first of two 3-pointers in the second quarter that helped bring the Bulldogs within 31-24 at the break.

"We had trouble getting our offense going, but we've come back before and always been a second-half team," Kelly said. "We got our shots to start falling, and Shannon got us going on defense. She was an animal."

Shannon and Andrea Bland combined for 24 points, nine rebounds, nine steals and eight assists. Gordon scored Ellensburg's first nine points of the third quarter to keep the comeback going.

"We all just started working harder," said Gordon, whose 15 points completed her career total at 1,208. "We really wanted to go out playing well in our last game."

With the program's fifth consecutive state trophy and sixth total under Faire, the Bulldogs finished 21-7.

"It started on the defensive end, and that comes from working hard," Faire said. "These kids can really go after it when they set their minds to it. They won this with their heart and energy."